Data strips are printed forms which include encoded digital information to be read by a standardized optical reader and instructions, specific to that data strip, for the operation of the reader, which instructions are read by, and control, the reader.
The data strip includes a header which incorporates the reading instructions and an information portion which contains the encoded information to be read. The information portion is made up of a plurality of data lines carrying serially-encoded information. The lines are printed side by side and contiguous with one another. As a result, the totality of the widths of the data lines, together with the header, define the length of the data strip. Each data line includes a uniform number of integral nibbles (half bytes) of information in dibit form. The data line should also include "Start" and alignment indicia (to aid the optical reader in maintaining its alignment with the data lines) and parity checks for the dibits. The total length of the data lines defines the width of the data strip.
Due to the small size of the dibits used, the strip must be prepared with great accuracy in format and allow for differences in printing methods.
The data strip must also include specific instructions, relating to that particular strip, to be used by, and control, the optical reader. Accordingly, the information portion is preceded by the header.
Our invention provides a method and apparatus capable of (a) correlating all of the interdependent factors involved in preparing a readable printed data strip which contains the required amount of encoded data and (b) preparing such strip.